Philip Garvey received his B.A. degree in psychology from Lynchburg College in 1984, and his M.S. degree in experimental psychology with an emphasis on visual perception from Villanova University in 1986. From 1989 to 1994, Mr. Garvey worked as a research scientist specializing in traffic safety and visual perception at LRI, a private consulting firm, where he was principal investigator on Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) contracts "Relative Visibility of Increased Legend Size vs. Brighter Materials," "Changeable Message Sign Visibility," and "Visibility Requirements for Symbolic Traffic Signals." Mr. Garvey began working at PTI in 1994 on the FHWA contract, "Hazard Markers for Older Drivers," and served as co-principal investigator on the 3M/USDOT sponsored research project, "Legibility of Conventional Road Guide Sign Typography and Format." The latter research resulted in the development of the Clearview font. Clearview has been approved by the FHWA for use on all highway guide signs, representing the first change in guide sign font allowed by the FHWA in over fifty years. In his tenure at PTI, Mr. Garvey has been principal investigator on numerous evaluations of commercial sign performance issues for the signage industry; guide sign font, arrow, and message visibility for the National Park Service (which resulted in a new font "NPS Roadway" that will be used on all future NPS guide sign installations); slow-moving vehicle emblem visibility for the American Civil Liberties Union; and he contributed to the federal guidelines on electronic message sign visibility for the FHWA and the Access Board. In his 21 years as a researcher, Mr. Garvey has also conducted research in the varied areas of ride quality evaluation, drunk-driving enforcement campaign assessment, and the development of bicycle-friendly shoulder rumble strips.

Mr. Garvey has been involved in numerous research projects investigating human performance and safety in transportation. His expertise in the field of human interaction with the roadway environment led to his selection as the chairman of the National Academy of Sciences Transportation Research Board's (TRB) Committee on User Information Systems. As chair of TRB's User Information Systems Committee, Mr. Garvey established TRB's committee on Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS), which is TRB's liaison with the international intelligent transportation systems (ITS) community. Mr. Garvey was a panel member on a National Cooperative Highway Research Program project on driver information overload, has been accepted as an expert witness in human factors issues in transportation safety and visibility in several states, has written a chapter on human factors in sign visibility for a transportation engineer's handbook, and recently assisted the Dubai Municipality (United Arab Emirates) in developing its outdoor advertising control manual. In 2004 Mr. Garvey was invited to join the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices' Human Factors Resource group, and in June 2006 he was appointed Chairman of the National Committee's Human Factors Task Force.